


Cinco Patas al Gato

by Blood_Red_Lion



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Witches, Bottom Keith (Voltron), Boys In Love, Exes, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Kitten Keith, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Smutty, Sort Of, Top Lance (Voltron), We all knew Lance was a furry, Witch Keith (Voltron), Witch Lance (Voltron), Witch Pidge | Katie Holt, Witches and Familiars, a lil bit, there's a history, you shouldn't be surprised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:37:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blood_Red_Lion/pseuds/Blood_Red_Lion
Summary: Keith has issues with his coven mate and is baited into doing something questionable, against the laws of the universe. He attempts to summon a familiar before his time and things get a little...fuzzy.But isn't it just so great that said coven mate is a huge cat person?





	Cinco Patas al Gato

**Author's Note:**

> Or- The one where Keith is a cat and Lance gets to babysit.  
> The translation of the title is "five legs to the cat" which is part of a saying my mom tells me a lot which is: "Don't go after the fifth leg (the tail) of the cat" meaning: "don't go looking for trouble/make things more complicated" so I thought the title was accurate.  
> Anywho, this was hella self indulgent, just take it. Written last year for Halloween on my NSFW account even though the NSFW scene is prettyyyy short. And omg just for clarity, no Lance does not fuck a cat. Now a catboy on the other hand--  
> -cough- excuse me.

Maybe he should have been patient. Maybe he shouldn’t have let himself get goaded into stupid things like familiar summoning because an even stupider thing like  _ Lance McClain  _ had teased him about how long it was taking. 

Keith was the best witch of their generation, it didn’t take a scryer to see that. Familiars were temperamental and honestly shouldn’t have been looked at as some kind of qualifier for magic prowess!

Just because Lance got his when he was a kid didn’t make him anything more than a novice. Hell, his familiar probably had to find him early to make sure the loser didn’t accidentally poison himself with his mediocre potion work.

“You  _ know  _ his potion work isn’t mediocre, Keith.” 

Keith’s eyes darted up from his mixing urn to his tablet propped up on his work desk. Pidge’s bored face taking up half the screen while the other half was a reference page regarding the subject at hand. 

She yawned, didn’t bother to cover her mouth, and leaned heavily into her palm. She was on hour 57 of no sleep, taking a bit of a breather from her personal project of mixing technology and magic to unlock the secrets of the universe...or something like that. Keith was only partially listening because Lance had chosen to spend that twenty-minute window of their coven time humming loudly to his private radio. 

If one were to say that Lance McClain had a tendency to get under Keith’s skin in obscene ways, they wouldn’t be too far off. 

But Keith would never admit that. 

He would, however, accept that…. 

“Well yeah okay he’s not a total novice.” 

Pidge rolled her eyes--at least partially. It didn’t look like she had the energy to see it through. “You ever think if you stopped putting him down he might… I don’t know, be nicer to you?” 

Keith shook his head and turned back to his materials, “Nope. Lance has had it out for me since before he even knew my name. Ending up in a coven together was just a sick cosmic joke from the universe.” 

And Pidge didn’t need to know all the details as for why.

Pidge didn’t even know him  _ before _ . Before everything happened that made their relationship the way that it was, she doesn’t realize how hard it would be for Keith to treat Lance dfferently.

His mixture was the right color, it was almost time… 

He excelled at wordless magic, so he didn’t have to hang up on Pidge to keep her from listening to his slightly specific expectations for his familiar. 

It was a bit embarrassing if he thought about it, but if it worked and his familiar finally showed up then maybe— 

Maybe things would get better. 

Maybe he could get his emotions in check. 

Maybe he could understand them, put them into words when he needed to. 

Maybe he could be less reckless. Less brash. Think more, tread with caution.

Maybe it would give him a more delicate hand in situations he couldn’t bulldoze through. 

Maybe it would keep him from doing stupid things like this— 

A familiar was supposed to guide, be a moral compass, kind of like… a parent maybe. 

Something else Keith lacked. 

“Hey no. Stop that. I know that look.” 

Keith’s eyes darted to the screen, darted back to the surface of his work desk, and he tried to blink away the mist, his face getting hot because he was embarrassed anyway. 

Why  _ was  _ he facetiming Pidge again right now?? 

Oh right. Just for the slightest… minuscule… chance this went wrong.

Because trying to mess with the forces of the universe like this? Yeah. Not smart. It either went right, just as planned, or it went wrong and ended in catastrophe. There was no “a little bit wrong” there was no “minor inconvenience” if this went wrong Pidge might have a lot of work on her hands.

_ But _ . 

“You can still back out.”

“Are you kidding? I just wasted so much of my albino rattlesnake venom  _ and _ a wolfs tongue and I am  _ not _ going to buy that again, that was  _ horrible _ .”

Pidge sighed, and Keith glanced back at his contents. Okay. It was time.

The spell was perfect. His ingredients were perfect, the timing was perfect. Pidge had noted it herself, the whole damn thing was a work of art otherwise she would never have let him even start—

But you just don’t fuck with the forces of the universe.

“Oh my GOD.”

\---

Keith probably would have preferred the forces of the universe kill him. Just, make it easy. End his misery. 

But no. No, this was a fate far worse than death. 

He clung to Pidge’s shoulder as she hastened down the halls of Lance’s complex. 

_ Why can’t you just keep me? Why does he have to be involved? I feel like he really doesn’t have to be involved! _

She bumped her head against his, jostling her little bundle of best friend and continued on, “Because unlike me, he’s not allergic to your ass right now. Seriously, Keith, I’m dying here.”

There was a rumble in his throat, angry and foreign and it sent vibrations through his whole body. 

“Hey! No. None of that.” Her voice made it clear her nose was stuffy and while Keith wasn’t looking he knew she was red in the face because she’d been red in the face the entire broom ride over. As a side note: he was not willing to try that again any time soon while he was like… well…  _ this _ .

Hell, she was holding him close to her face because she knew he would bolt the second she let him go and didn’t have a lot of faith in her ability to catch him, but she was suffering to make sure he was safe.

“We don’t know how much worse this could get or what other side effects there are, and we need someone we can trust who will take care of you while I figure out a reversal spell.”

_ And he’s someone we can trust? Since when? _

Pidge flicked him on the back of the head lightly, far lighter than she’d ever flicked him before probably due to the fact his head was much smaller than usual.

“He’s a member of our coven, you know we’re all bonded. He would never hurt you, so stop being a dick about it.”

_ But  _ he’s _ gonna be a dick about it! You  _ know _ it. _

“Yes, but that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with.” She hopped up a couple steps, sneezed on the landing and sniffled grossly before turning and pushing a door open with her back, her little bundle still mostly protected in her arms though his nose was almost booped by the door. 

He would have complained, but Pidge very suddenly jumped, jostling her friend as she tried to rush down the hall.

“Lance! Lance where are you going!?”

There was the sound of a window far down the hall slamming shut, a broom clanging to the ground, “Y--you said Keith was in trouble, I thought— _ damn, _ you’re fast.”

Apparently the source of the noise was Lance, not altogether unexpected as he was prone to being a noisy thing, but he sounded out of breath and slightly panicked. 

_ …Was he worried about me…? _

“Of course, he was worried about you, dummy…” Pidge mumbled.

“Where--uh, where is he?”

“He’s right here. Lance—is that shampoo in your hair?”

“Here? Where? All I see is that—”

It was silent. Keith watched his life flash before his eyes as the seconds ticked by, toward his inevitable motifying death. 

Then Lance started laughing, “Oh  _ man _ , that’s Keith!?”

Pidge shook her head dismissively, hosting her small fluffy friend up in her arms and motioning toward Lance’s apartment, “Come on, let me explain.” 

As she turned Keith was finally able to look at Lance, able to watch the smile spread over his face, see the sparkle in his eyes that always made Keith just a little weak in the knees. 

There  _ was  _ shampoo in his very damp hair, and his shirt was even on backwards but the jerk was still…

Well, he was Lance. 

There was a small rumble in his chest as he lowered his head to Pidge’s shoulder, deciding he didn’t want to look at Lance anymore because that feeling in his chest was all consuming and he didn’t like it. 

Pidge giggled, her voice a whisper, “You’re purring, Keith.” 

Lance walked by them into his apartment, letting the door fall shut behind him as he pulled up his phone and dialed Hunk or Allura, most likely. Keith watched him disappear down a hall speaking animatedly about the most amazing thing that’s happened and felt his rumble get a little louder.

_ Huh. Purring. Was that what that was? Eh… could have been worse. I’m comfy, I’m warm, I’m close to Lance, I  _ am  _ pretty happy… _

_ Wait. _

_ Wait ahh fuck no… Did you hear that? _

Pidge laughed outright, “Get it out now Keithers, I’m gonna have to give him the potion I took to chat with you in a little bit so…!”

_ No, fuck, don’t do that. _

“Have to, besides, cats only purr when they’re happy, he’ll know anyway.”

_ Oh, my fucking god.  _

“Yeah you’re pretty fucked dude.”

With the door shut Pidge finally let Keith drop down onto the ground where his instinct immediately made him want to seek the highest ground, his little black padded paws moving silently through the room.

“Oh man, okay, sorry, now that I’m done spreading the word about how  _ amazing _ today is,” Lance started, he still sounded out of breath but for another reason now, probably from all his laughter. “God it’s a flipping Christmas miracle.”

Pidge flopped down onto the couch, “It’s October, Lance.”

Lance mirrored her position on his worn blue lounger and waved a hand flippantly, “Alright, it’s a Halloween miracle.”

“And I’d hardly count this as a miracle,” Pidge pushed. She slipped her satchel off her shoulders and started emptying the contents out on the coffee table, righting bottles and piling up little notebooks.

Keith’s notebooks.

Lance watched her set up with slowly narrowing eyes, but his voice didn’t lose its amused timber, “It’s a really fun thing that I get to be amused by in time for the holidays, will you shut up and let me have this.”

Keith found his way onto one of Lance’s bookshelves and busied himself casually knocking things down and onto the carpet. Lance caught his eyes but didn’t seem to care.

Pidge shrugged, “Okay, that’s fine, have your fun now, cause I’m going to leave him with you.”

Keith made a low grumbled noise and watched Lance’s eyebrow shoot up. 

“Oh. Right.” He glanced around the room and sighed, “Guess you can’t keep him cause of the allergies huh?”

She nodded, though her face was looking better. Of course, the second she stepped over the threshold of Lance’s apartment her allergies wouldn’t affect her. Lance fostered cats on top of the fact his familiar, Mama Blue, very kindly took in stray kittens of her own when she’d go out. He’d had his apartment charmed to protect his coven mate from the amount of cat fur all over his furniture.

Which was probably why Pidge had figured leaving their little kitten friend with him was the best solution.

“Yeah, I’m going to go back to Keith’s place, do some digging, see if I can find the notes he used to make his spell and if there’s any loophole he missed or some way to break him out of it…I brought you some reading materials too. Hopefully between the two of us we can crack this thing.”

Lance eyed Keith carefully but when he spoke he was talking to Pidge, “And why aren’t we involving the others? Or how about just making Keith tell us exactly what he did?”

_ I’m sure it will just wear off…eventually… _

Keith jumped from the shelf onto the couch and slumped against the armrest. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Because Keith is being difficult and refuses to tell me the actual incantations he used for the spell.”

Lance scoffed, “Of course. Familiars are personal. Little shit can’t open up to save his life.”

Keith’s tail swished, and he noticed he wasn’t doing it on purpose, another subconscious physical response, this one physically displaying his anger at Lance’s remark that meant so much more than it should have. But then again, was Keith really going to complain about Lance not letting it go when his body was the one actively screaming  _ ‘fuck off’ _ in cat?”

This…was going to be difficult.

\---

Once Pidge had finished debriefing Lance she’d scooped up Keith for a hug and dropped the boy back on the couch when she was done. Outside of Lance’s apartment Pidge couldn’t indulge in cuddling cats but here she could not only cuddle kittens but on this specific occasion she’d gotten the rarest treat of all: cuddling a kitten  _ Keith _ .

She would never let him live this down. Ever.

But go figure, she was the least of his worries. Lance shut the door behind Pidge and ran his fingers through his hair. When he pulled his hand back sleek with shampoo he groaned and shot a dirty look at Keith.

“Next time you want to put your life in danger, can it be  _ after _ my shower?” he rolled his eyes and walked past the back of the couch.

Keith wanted to grumble at him, but he noted that the bottle on the table, the one that would enable Keith to speak to him, was still unopened and thus unconsumed. 

Instead all he could do was hop up to the back of the couch and perch there, watching Lance cross his arms over his body and pull up his shirt. 

His tail swished again, watching the muscles in Lance’s back shift under his skin as he tossed his shirt back. It landed on the couch next to Keith and it smelled pleasant like vanilla and roasted caramel and oh  _ no— _

**_Prrrrh…rrrrh…rrrrh…_ **

_ How do I turn it off… how do I turn this stupid…? _

**_Rrrrh…rrrrh…rrrrh…_ **

Lance glanced back at him with a raised brow, “...We’ll talk after my shower.” He clicked his tongue and waved a hand back towards Keith, “Play nice.”

He followed his motions and noticed a long blue-gray tail curling around Lance’s pant leg.

A moment later Lance disappeared, and a blue British longhair hopped up onto the couch. Keith caught her eyes, magically electric blue to denote her status as a familiar. 

_ Ah yes…Keith. _

Her voice sounded like silk in his head.

Silk but…strong. intimidating. She sat poised and bushy tailed at the edge of the couch with eyes gleaming, tail swaying back and forth like she’d found something very interesting.

_ You’ve done a very bad thing love. _

Keith felt his tiny body tense, back arching. 

_ But fate has been kind to you this day… _

Keith bit back his hiss,  _ Kind?! What part of this horrific ordeal is kind?!  _

She reached out her front paws, claws extending into the back of the couch nearly grasping at the edge of Lance’s shirt. 

_ This isn’t the worst thing, is all… the spell you used, your wish. Your desire to be more honest and have a better grasp of your feelings and your actions…when your familiar comes it will be to keep you on the right path, you have to start the journey yourself. _

Keith glowered, her claws hooked onto Lance’s shirt and it started to slip down the back toward her. He didn’t think the words, but he thought about how frustrating the concepts were.

Well,  _ obviously _ he had to start the journey on his own, but hadn’t he already done that?

There was a light breathy sound in his head, like she was laughing. 

_ My master smells nice, doesn’t he? _

Keith blinked, the tip of his tail twitched as he watched her pull the shirt over to her and start to knead the fabric just slightly. 

_ You know, I know how your spell backfired. I can tell you how to break it.  _

Keith stayed silent, his eyes watching her paws. He slipped down from his perch to sit beside her on the cushions, but he kept his distance. 

_ You simply have to be honest. Its why fate chose this form for you. Your body is more honest about your feelings… the more you accept your own wishes the more like yourself you’ll be again. _

Keith eyed the shirt. One paw darted out to briefly grasp at its hem. 

Her little huffy laugh played in his head again. 

_ You want this? _

_ No… _ He looked away and retrieved his paw, but his claw snagged on the cloth and tugged it over to him.

_ Normally I’m not inclined to share my master with anyone…but I know him. And I know of you well enough.  _ She nuzzled the shirt for a moment before releasing it entirely and hopping off the couch.

_ Be good to him this time or I will make all facets of your life all kinds of living hell.  _

He watched her tail disappear beyond the blue lounger and travel into the kitchen. So now, alone in the living room, with that shirt smelling so nice and still just warm enough…

He pawed at it, kneaded at it until it was bunched up in all the right places and curled up in it. He rolled and purred and nuzzled into it and—wow he felt really nice. Like. Curl up in bed after a hot shower with fresh sheets kind of wonderful.

Why was he doing this…?

Because the shirt was warm? Or because the shirt was… Lance’s…

Ah fuck it. He was a furry purring quadruped until further notice, what did it fucking matter that he wanted to cuddle into something familiar, like something that reminded him of that chest he’d held onto so tightly the last time he’d fallen apart. 

That one time Lance had been soft with him. That one time—no, the first time… he’d thought he and Lance could maybe…

_ “See? We did it. We are a good team.” _

Keith melted into Lance’s shirt, a little satiated puddle of black cat, and fell asleep encompassed in the memory of when he first fell in love. 

\---

He woke up to that rumbling in his head shaking his whole body with the intensity of his joy. There was an almost euphoric feeling emanating from something like deft fingers pressing into the softer skin under his chin, scratching lightly there, a thumb rubbing over his cheek and flicking his ears and ahh there was another hand on the other side of his face repeating the motions. He couldn’t help but lean into the one that was scratching his chin and trapped it between himself and the couch. 

_ Yes, good, now there is no escape! Continue the scritches! _

There was a chuckle. Familiar. All he knew was that he enjoyed the sound, it was warm and reminded him of pleasant feelings. Like getting locked in the amphitheater when Hunk had stolen his broom and he got to hear Lance laugh for the first time in a while. Like getting caught in the rain and fighting over the few inches of shelter offered by the rundown bus stop, Lance’s shoving only so forceful before the thing gave out and soaked them both anyway. It was still more like them than they’d been in a long time and even though they’d both gotten sick the memory was fond. 

The free hand moved back over his head, down his neck and up his spine as he subconsciously arched into it. 

“You like that, huh?”

It sounded like Lance. The rumble got louder. He cracked an eye open and came face to face with the witch. He had thrown himself onto the couch on his stomach with his legs up in the air and over the armrest. His hair was dryer than when Keith last saw him, but his eyes still sparkled.

Ah yes. Because that boy just  _ shines _ sometimes… 

Keith let his eyes slide shut again, still too far into his pleasure to care too much that it’s Lance, treating him like one would a normal house cat, with his hands all over him. 

“Damn. Do we have to turn you back? I think I like you better like this…” Keith was only vaguely aware of the larger pressure against his neck and chest, vaguely making out Lance’s nose pressing into his fur, nuzzling. 

A small part of him thought he should be mortified. But the bigger part of him, the one that controled the enthusiastic motorboat noises erupting ever louder from his throat just said: 

It’s so  _ comfy _ …!

Then Lance decided, because he was Lance and he couldn’t leave well enough alone, he must be the absolute worst human ever there is just no other way for Lance to exist—Lance decided to blow raspberries into his stomach. 

The purring stopped instantaneously, Keith felt foul and violated and frustrated and his entire body flipped back to roll over and away from Lance, claws out and teeth bared. 

_ How  _ **_dare_ ** _ you?! _

Lance just laughed, “Yeah, that’s more like you.” 

_ No, no, you don’t get to joke, how  _ **_DARE_ ** _ you?!? _

Lance leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Keith’s small head so fast he couldn’t even try to bolt out of the way. Lance didn’t seem the slightest bit phased, “That’s just friggen adorable though... Knowing my angry mullet head is in there somewhere. I am personally never letting you live this down man.” He booped Keith’s tiny felt nose before pushing up and off the couch. 

_ H-h-h—how d-d-dare y-y-....ahhhhhh…! _

Keith was screaming. At least, he was pretty sure he was screaming. Though Lance didn’t seem to be reacting too much. Had he not had the potion? 

Keith looked around for it, realized that the coffee table has been cleaned off and all his belongings were missing, including Pidge’s communication potion bottle.

Then a new noise exited his throat, this one required his mouth open to further allow the sound to bounce off the walls loudly. 

**_Mrrrr-aaaauuuuu!!!!_ **

_ Oh, what the ever-living  _ **_fuck_ ** _ was that?! _

Lance seemed to agree with Keith’s opinion of the noise, at least within the grounds that it was ridiculous because even though he’d already disappeared into the kitchen Keith could hear him laughing so hard he was banging his fists on the counter. 

“I have to set up round the clock surveillance while you’re here, I’m going to need hours of video of you being—oh my god I’m—Blue, Blue help.” 

Maybe it was because Keith wanted to see what bothered him. Maybe it was because he wanted to get there before Blue. It’s anyone’s guess really, but when he rushes from the couch to the kitchen on feet that move far too quickly away from a shirt that is still far too comforting there isn’t anything  _ bothering _ Lance and Blue is already there. She’s perched on a small shelf on the wall that is there purely for her so she could nuzzle Lance’s face while he stood over the kitchen counter. 

And yes, he was jealous. 

But mostly as a cat, he thought. They’re territorial sort of…right? That’s a solid explanation for it…

He stopped in the doorway and watched Lance’s bare shoulders shake with restrained giggles as he pressed kisses into Blue’s fur. 

He’d seen him do it a thousand times before, Blue traveled with him everywhere, they are inseparable, the ideal witch/familiar pair and yet—he suddenly found himself  _ loathing _ that cat.

He ddidn’t like it.

When Lance finally managed to stop laughing he roughed up her fur and turned over to the stove, humming some top 40’s song under his breath while he turned it on and boiled some water.

Blue stayed on her perch and started to clean her paws and it was entirely silent save for his humming until she spoke. 

_ Yes Love, I’ll be back in the morning as usual, of course. _

And since Keith could hear it, he wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or not. 

He padded his way closer to the shelf and looked up at her, a little rumbling noise slipping out in question. It’s short and confused and he could hear her little breathy laugh again.

_ I’m speaking  _ this _ way… so as to not be rude to our guest, my love. Unlike some people. _

Lance scoffed and shuffled around in his cabinets to look for some noodles. 

“Alright,  _ alright _ , I get it. Keithy baby, Blue is going out for the night, she wishes you a fond farewell and all that junk.”

_ I did not, he’s just being extra polite because I called him out, well—I was going to, but now it’s a moot point. I will be leaving for the evening little one, because my adventures do not cease for visitors… _ She hopped off her perch and cuddled up to Keith quickly, her tail coiling harmlessly around his neck as she circled around him and to Keith’s frustration it wasn’t  _ awful _ .

_ And I do wish you a fond farewell for the evening, but again, if you hurt him in anyway during my absence… _ He could hear the smile rather than see it, her eyes literally glowing so there was a bright blue light cast over his black fur. 

_ Well, you understand me, don’t you lovely? _

“Blue, Chill.”

The glow died, and he could hear a pleasant chirping noise as her tail swayed,  _ Always dearest! Always. Goodnight my lovelies, see you both in the morning~! _

Her tail disappeared from his view and suddenly he couldn’t feel her near anymore. He turned to look for her, but she was gone. The window wasn’t even open…

“Oh yeah she does that. It’s a familiar thing I guess. So. Should I get you some Fancy Feast or do you want some pasta?”

_ Pasta, duh. Don’t be a dick. _

Lance was quiet for a long moment, glancing back at him over his shoulder before he shrugged, “Yeah okay Pasta it is then.”

… Keith really needed to figure out if he’d had the damn potion or not.

\---

Dinner was surprisingly relaxed, and Lance didn’t demean him with one of the foster cat’s bowls on the floor, though he did set out a paper towel under Keith’s bowl incase he had issues eating and made a mess.

He did, and for what it was worth, Lance only smiled, rolled his eyes, and helped clean up. 

“It’s fine.”

_ No, it’s not… I’m a mess… this is awful. _

“Shh, shh, it’s fine.”

**_Mrrryewww…_ **

Lance reached over as he picked up their dishes with one hand and the other gently scratched behind Keith’s ears. 

The purring started up again, but he was too tired to fight it. Too tired and too frustrated and why not—if Lance didn’t really know what he was saying then maybe he could just… he could take advantage of this time together, where Lance didn’t treat him like shit and he wasn’t too scared or too proud to just…

When Lance started to pull his hand away, Keith followed it with his head. He wasn’t fast enough, and, in his panic, he swiped with his paw to try and catch Lance’s hand.

He managed it, though the boy had winced as his claws snagged his skin. 

This made Keith panic more. Because now, what if he’d hurt him? What if Lance’s tolerance of Keith the cat only went so far as the cat didn’t cause him any kind of injury—

Keith was a dog person, so he really didn’t know how that whole thing worked. If a cat scratched him he’d be pretty done with it pretty fast and let’s face it Lance didn’t have a lot of reason to be warm to him (but he wished he did, he wished he would he—) He was just… so suddenly scared…

**_Mmmmrow…_ **

Lance smiled, “Oh you poor thing. You must be confused as hell. Come on, I’m gonna do the dishes then we’re going to look over your books, see if we can get you out of this alright?” He scratched him behind the ears again, stroking his hand over Keith’s head and shoulders a few times before turning back to the sink with their dishes. 

Keith still didn’t like the idea of Lance not being within touching distance though. 

He hopped off the table and started to curl around the other witch’s legs, bobbing and weaving between his ankles, his tail curling subconsciously to touch as much as he could with every motion. 

Lance ended up chuckling more as the faucet ran but he didn’t speak again. 

It made Keith even more restless. 

He wanted Lance’s full attention here. Why wasn’t he giving it to him?

**_Mmmmrrr…._ **

“You can’t meow your way out of everything Keith, I have to finish cleaning up.”

**_Mmmm!_ **

“No.”

_ Please…!  _ He sounded desperate and he hated it. What the hell was going  _ on _ here… 

He padded over to the wall and tried jumping up to Blue’s perch a few times. He failed, without her added magic and without the full use of his own, it probably wasn’t meant to be capable for regular cats. He just wanted to be closer to Lance. Lance who made him feel warm and fuzzy and happy. Why was this so bloody difficult?!

_ Why don’t you listen to me! _

**_Mreeeeeeyaaaaaaaaa!_ **

God he was  _ annoying _ . This is why he didn’t like cats, what the fuck even were these noises?! Meows? They sounded like an odd child crying. This needed to stop, this needed to—

Lance swooped down with wet hands and picked Keith up into his arms, letting him grab onto his shoulder and perch on his forearm as he continued to wash the dishes though now at a slightly slower sloppier pace. 

“There? Is that better?”

It took Keith a moment to resettle, his head felt weird feeling so high up all of the sudden but then there was this solid wall of  _ Lance _ and his smell and his warmth and… 

Yes. Yes, this is better. He leaned his head into the crook of Lance’s neck and started to purr. He didn’t even feel bad about it. 

Lance chuckled, “And we’re supposed to be sure you’re  _ my Keith? _ Hmph.”

_ My Keith _ ?

_ Your Keith… _

**_Prrrrr….rrrrrrrrr……rrrrrrrrrr…_ **

“You like that huh?” Lance offered as he turned off the water, his wet hand going up to cup the back of Keith’s lithe black furred body as he turned.

_ Yes. Yes, I really fucking do. _ Keith still wasn’t sure Lance could or couldn’t hear him but at this point he didn’t care. 

Everything in him was just  _ screaming _ this was what he wanted. And for once in his life he wanted to indulge in that. He was a bloody cat for fucks sake, who would blame him for letting himself…want…

The dampness in his fur was unpleasant but everything else won out so he didn’t tense in Lance’s arms for any reason. He was just a pliable rumbling black rug draped over Lance’s shoulder. Not complaining, not grumbling, just comfortable, happy…

Ah gosh Lance made him  _ happy _ . Why didn’t he just  _ accept that _ as a regular bodied witch… when Lance  _ wanted  _ to…when Lance…

_ “We are a good team…” _

_ “I got you buddy.” _

_ “Hey man, listen…” _

Why hadn’t he just…

He hid his wet nose in Lance’s neck and listened to his surprises giggle, “You alright there?”

_ No. _

“Well we’re gonna get to some research now so it shouldn’t be much longer, relax.”

_ I can’t relax. How am I supposed to— _

Lance’s hand stroked down his back again.

_ Yeah, go figure. _

\---

Lance hadn’t had the potion, that much was fucking  _ clear. _ The bottle was sitting, stoppered and sealed on Lance’s work desk beside a number of other glass bottles and jars, it stood out because Pidge liked working in shades of green with violet stoppers and Lance preferred blues and whites. Pidge’s bottle was a little dark spot against the light wood desk, menacing almost. 

And he  _ hadn’t _ drank it!

_ Do you just… not want to talk to me? _

He didn’t know why he thought it out to him the way he’d done until now. There was no point, he wasn’t listening. 

Lance picked up the first of Keith’s notebooks from the pile and started to thumb through it before he even made himself comfortable on his bed. It was a mess of deep blue sheets and far too many pillows and looked insanely welcoming. When Lance let him down on the sheets and dug through his pillows to pull out a large shark plush Keith stood stalk still with his little feet sinking into the comforter. 

This was Lance’s bed.

He’d never been in Lance’s bed.

They’d shared a bed once. But it was in a motel waiting on news from the hospital. It wasn’t nearly as intimate or as personal as  _ Lance’s bed _ . 

Keith’s little heart beat a little too quickly.

“Alright let’s get to it.” He pulled the shark onto his lap and propped his elbows up with Keith’s little red booklet between his fingers.

Little red… Something was very wrong. He can’t remember what it was but something…

Keith eyed the bottle across the room on the desk. He glanced back at Lance whose eyes were scanning the contents of his work.

It would be… easier if they could talk, wouldn’t it??

Why would Lance put it off like that…? Wouldn’t he want Keith the cat out of his hair sooner rather than later? 

“Ouch. I’ll pretend I didn’t read this little note here…” Lance mumbled, blindly reaching out and toppling Keith over onto his side good naturedly. 

Keith didn’t register his words, still staring at the bottle. Lance seemed like he was inclined to speak to him so...

Maybe he… forgot? 

**_M-mirr…_ **

_ Lance...Lance the bottle… _

Lance looked up that time, “You’re getting better at that. Learn to self-advocate. This could be good for you buddy.” 

He turned back to the journal, “This on the other hand. Not good for me. Nope. No Bueno.”

He smacked it shut and flopped back against his pillows. 

“First off your handwriting? A pain.”

_ My handwriting is fine. It’s simplistic cursive. Unlike your chicken scratch nonsense… _

“Secondly, man, tell me how you really feel would you?”

Keith blinked. 

The edge of his tail twitched at his own agitation as he tried to understand what that meant. 

Little red journal…

His little red— coven seminar notebook where he wrote angry scribbles about his frustrating witch family in the margins. Namely Lance. 

Ah fuck. 

He wasn’t sure what he was doing then but he moved toward Lance’s dejected form and head butted his cheek. 

“Oh no you don’t. Gonna need more than that to get through my obnoxiously thick self-absorbed skull, you know.” 

He didn’t sound mad, but Keith still felt bad, he forced the rumble and kept pressing his face into Lance. 

_ Happy _ , he thought,  _ you make me happy, I’m sorry I lie when I’m mad. _

But then, Lance couldn’t hear him, could he?

“Ugh. You’re cute like this though.” Lance laughed and wrapped his arms around the little black cat trying desperately to appease him. “How’s about it, Keith, let’s make this permanent yeah? You can just eat and sleep and live right here with me and Blue. I’ll have to get you litter trained but we can manage.”

_ But you won’t even talk to me! _

**_Mriiiiaaa…_ **

The thought didn’t stop him from nuzzling Lance’s face. 

Finally, the witch groaned and released him, sitting right back up and opening the notebook again, “Nah you’re right. Forget it, gotta get you back to your usual angry dismissive mullety self.” 

_ It’s not a mullet…!  _

Lance spoke at the exact same time as Keith’s thoughts, so it couldn’t have been an  _ actual _ response, but it definitely surprised him.

“It  _ is _ a mullet. Even your cat self here has this funny little Mufasa lion mane, it’s great.” He reached over and dug his fingers into the exceptionally soft and fluffy fur at his chest before he started to massage with his fingers. 

Keith didn’t have to force the purring and ended up collapsing into the mass of sheets again. 

It was a few minutes later that Lance nudged the sleepy cat awake with his index finger. 

“Alright so I think this was your prototype enchantment, am I wrong?”

He tapped the page he was open to and Keith squinted to look at it. Making out his own handwriting  _ was  _ proving to be a bit difficult now…

But yes, it looked like it. 

Which meant… 

Keith panicked. And climbed onto Lance’s chest, blocking the notebook from view and meowing obnoxiously. 

Lance rolled his eyes. 

“A little late there, buddy. I already read it. A few times.” 

No, this wasn’t happening.

“And let me tell you, I’m all for your self-improvement here but uh…” 

Keith threw himself off the bed and onto the floor, to ultimately scamper under the bed. 

He didn’t  _ need  _ this right now. Not from him. He didn’t need Lance telling him how pitiful he was. 

“Keeeeeeeeeeith.”

Keith made a new noise, one he was more familiar with for once. It was the noise the neighborhood cats made when he and Pidge walked BaeBae. That garbled growl/shrieky noise of a creature that felt mortally threatened by a twelve-year-old beagle. 

“Keith if you don’t come back up here I’ll read it out loud.” 

He hissed (was he spitting???) And with his mouth open the growl grew louder and ever more questionable. 

“I’ll do a rap of it. I’ll give you second hand embarrassment on top of your own.” 

Lance hung off his bed enough that Keith could see his hair barely brushing the wooden ground behind the bed skirt. 

Keith wanted to swipe at him but figured that wouldn’t make things much better. Instead, he scrambled away, brushing against small storage boxes and tripping on lost socks until he was so far under Lance’s queen-sized bed he’d have to climb under it himself to even try and pull him out. 

“Jesus Christ, man.” Lance grumbled. It sounded so far away. 

It made him sad. 

**_Mrrrrr…aaaaauuuu_ **

“You can’t do that. You can’t meow for attention if you don’t actually want it. You aren’t an  _ actual  _ cat, Keith.” 

_ But I do want it! I just want it to not talk about the thing!  _

**_Mrrriyaaaa….!_ **

“Are you stuck? Cause that’s the only time that’s okay. If you’re stuck.” 

_ I’m not stuck...well… _

**_Mrrrr…._ **

“Then just come out and stop being a dummy.”

There was a thump and a large shadow blocked some of the light seeping under the bed from the sliver of space between the skirt and the ground. 

Lance was sitting on the floor, his hand out and lying flat on the ground. It was an invitation. 

“It’s not that bad Keith I just… I wish you could have talked to me about it. Maybe then…” 

_ Things would have been different…? _

“Maybe…” 

Keith meowed more and settled into a lengthy stay under the bed, watching Lance’s fingers thrum along the ground in fidgety impatience. 

He didn’t take the invitation and dozed off once more.  

When he woke up Lance’s shadow was missing but there was a long violet ribbon that caught his attention as it inched away from him. 

Where was it going? What was it doing? How long had ribbons been sentient?

Or was it a ribbon— 

Oh no.

Oh no what if it was a  _ snake _ ? 

A snake in Lance’s bedroom… what if it went after him?!

_ Not on my watch! _

He leaned back on his hind legs and pounced, but the toxic colored thing slithered away from him, slipping beyond his thumbless grasp. 

He never realized how  _ important  _ those things were… 

He pounced again, the resulting shuffle of boxes a little too loud for his liking but he didn’t care. The snake must be stopped at all costs. 

Once again it slipped through his paw pads and into the light of the room. It was closer to Lance now. 

It had to die. 

_ Ahhh!!! _

He jumped into the light and onto the snake only to watch it disappear before his eyes as a pair of hands (that  _ did  _ have opposable thumbs) wrapped around his midsection and scooped him up back into the bed.

“Gotcha!” Lance beamed. 

Because of course it was a trick… 

Lance turned him around and looked into his eyes as if to say,  _ “your move now, kitty.”  _

But it was Lance. 

Lance was okay and shining and happy. 

Lance made him happy. 

He dangled there from Lance’s grip and his stomach felt a little weird being stretched by gravity, but he didn’t care. He raised a paw to press lightly to Lance’s cheek and started purring. 

Lance blinked and smiled and sighed, slipping back into his bed just the same as he’d been earlier though this time the notebook wasn’t nearby. 

It was back on the desk right there with the unopened potion bottle. 

But what did it matter… he and Lance were getting by just fine without it, right?

Lance shuffled under the covers and wrapped an arm around the black fluff ball he was sharing a bed with before snapping his fingers, turning off his bedroom lights and letting his decorative wall stars twinkle into existence. 

Keith knew Lance was a kid at heart, the stuffed shark and the plastic stars didn’t surprise him. 

What did surprise him was Lance’s willingness to sleep beside him and not push their earlier argument (if you can call it that) any further. 

Keith purred in his grasp but let his jaw hang open for just a second to question the change of events. 

Lance shrugged into his mattress, “You’re tired. I’m tired— maybe if we’re lucky it’ll just wear off by tomorrow, or maybe Pidge will have found something. If not, you’ll just have to accept my digging into your notes some more. And that’s entirely on you because you could absolutely just  _ tell me  _ what you  _ want _ and then it would be over and done with but… eh it’s fine like I said, I’m cool with you staying like this as long as you are.” 

He tugged Keith’s little cat body up close to his face and laid his head down almost like he was tempted to use Keith as a pillow. 

Keith, as a general rule, enjoyed when Lance rested his head on his shoulders or back. It was usually something Lance did without thought and he was almost always too tired to pick a fight about things when he did it. 

But as a cat? Not so much. 

Especially not now with Lance talking so much shit. 

_ Uhhhh I can’t talk to you even if I wanted to cause you didn’t take the potion! _

He made sure to punctuate this with an indignant meow as he rolled over and pawed at Lance’s face, less affectionately and more in the hopes of being annoying. 

He knew it worked at least a little bit because Lance reacted by rolling his eyes. 

“Keith. My familiar is a cat.”

There was silence. Keith’s tail swished back and forth apprehensively. 

“I can speak cat, Keith.” 

Keith’s paws stayed perfectly still on Lance’s face.

“Look, Pidge’s potion would let me read your mind. And that’s… rude as hell. So, I opted not to take it. I speak cat so we’re good, I mean I’ve been pretty good right? I’m not like—fluent or anything but I got the gist of things you were  _ trying  _ to tell me…Right?”

Keith blinked, his tail started switching a little more rapidly. He watched Lance’s eyebrows arch curiously, his cat’s sight letting him pick up the minor details even in the dark.

“I can feel your tail moving… how are you doing buddy?”

_ I kind of want to murder you. _

“Keith?”

_ What, did you not catch that? What the fuck does that even mean, speak cat, you absolute dumb fuck. _

He felt the irritation bubble in his throat and a small growl escaped him.

Lance chuckled a little at that, “Oh my god. I’m sorry I didn’t clear that up I honestly just figured you knew? And I mean—again, I’m not  _ fluent  _ so occasionally I miss things…”

Keith batted him with a paw, claws sheathed so as not to hurt him and rolled over, so his back was against Lance’s face. He didn’t want to look at him right now.

_ Idiot… _

“You know what, I’m gonna let you think about it for a little bit and when you realize that I was doing you a favor here, I’ll wait for your apology.” Lance scoffed before throwing one arm entirely over Keith’s tiny body and reeling him in, “Or you can go sleep on the couch if you really want.” He squeezed, implying this wasn’t an actual option, and settled himself in to wait.

Keith didn’t want to go anyway. This worked out for him after all. It meant Lance hadn’t caught all the ridiculous pathetic desperate thoughts he’d had about their relationship. It meant Lance had respected him enough to avoid potentially violating his privacy that far. It meant Lance had been working off cues and body language this entire time and he wasn’t  _ awful _ at it.

Keith mentally sighed and stretched out one of his front legs so his paw could brush against Lance’s palm before relaxing and laying it there. 

His “apology” because he wasn’t going to do more than that.

He also didn’t need to look to know Lance was smiling, “So are you going to tell me what you want? Since you used ‘heart’s desire’ and all that jazz as part of the spell, if we can do that it should wear off.”

_ That was the prototype Lance, that was stupid phrasing and stupid ideas before I was struck with an  _ ounce _ of sense… _

To tell the truth, they were the results of a wishful heart staring at the back of Lance’s head during a seminar.

He breathed loudly through his nose, an odd thing he hadn’t even been sure cats were capable of; and sunk his head into the comforter. 

“Come on Keith, Blue said this was an honesty thing. So just. Tell me what you want. Maybe I can help.”

_ It’s only  _ part _ of the spell Lance… _

**_Mmrr…_ **

Keith hadn’t meant it to come out so dismissively, but he knew that was how it had sounded. Lance didn’t care. 

“It’s a start, at least.”

Keith thought about it. 

Keith thought about it for so long his tail kept swishing long after Lance’s breathing had evened out to show he’d fallen asleep. There were a lot of things wrong with his life. A lot of things he wished he could change, or he could fix. A lot of things he didn’t know where to start. A lot of things magic couldn’t help. 

And then there was Lance. And if Keith had been better, if Keith had known how to handle their situations, how to talk to him, how to tell him—…it wasn’t much. But if he had to start somewhere. 

He stretched forward, leaning his head into Lance’s limp hand. He purred and nuzzled and breathed in his scent and absorbed his warmth and very suddenly his sandpaper tongue had darted out to lick at Lance’s hand. 

It was sad. It was weird. It was probably the closest Keith would ever get to genuinely kissing Lance again so—

If he was honest. Really,  _ really _ honest…

He still wanted Lance just as much as he always had.

_ There, I admit it, I’m… I’m still in love with Lance. Is that good enough for you, Universe? _

\---

He could hear a clock, somewhere on the wall to the left. He didn’t know what time it was, but it was still pitch black beyond Lance’s bedroom window, so it must have been pretty late.  

Keith vaguely wondered if he was awake because as a cat he’d been so inclined to nap everywhere he wasn’t tired enough now. 

Lance sighed in his sleep and he could feel his ear flicker at the sensation. It felt nice. 

He turned over so he could face Lance directly, studying the slope of his nose and how his hair fell away from his face. He’d somehow managed to kick most of his covers off and not disturb Keith in the slightest. It’s endearing, and Keith couldn’t help the smile as he squeezed himself as close to Lance as he could and wrapping his tail around one of his thighs. 

This spell was some kind of blessing in disguise because he’s never felt more amazing than he did just then, wrapping his arms tightly around Lance and burying his face in his chest. 

Lance hummed quietly, his arms going up and around Keith’s waist, tangling their legs together. 

Keith realized something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet. Instead he felt Lance’s thigh clamped between his and he started subconsciously rubbing against it, enjoying the friction of Lance’s silk loungers against his bare skin. 

One of Lance’s hands slipped into his hair and held his head down against his chest a little more forceful than he should have, but Keith enjoyed it. He especially enjoyed it when Lance mumbled in his ears the words: “ _ God I missed you so much… _ ” and the tone in his voice started a fire in his gut.

Lance’s chest was bare, and Keith lived for the contact as he pressed his lips against his shoulders and neck, chaste and quick but trying to say so many things his tongue was too slow to voice. 

_ Me too. I missed you, I missed you so fucking much you have no idea, I need you, I want you, I lo— _

Their hips ground together, and Lance released a harsh little breath, the fingers tangled in his hair yank to bare his neck and Lance dove right in. He started with open mouthed kisses, wet and dragging his teeth before he opened his mouth wide and sucked wide marks into his skin. 

Keith panted and squirmed beneath him, melting under Lance as he’d done properly only that one time before. 

The hand not currently in Keith’s hair ran down his side to grip his hip, drag him over his thigh a little harder. His dick was hardening between them and it looked like that was what Lance wanted because he thrust his hips up to meet it with his own and Keith  _ remembered _ that.

He remembered that feeling, he remembered what it was like the one time they’d gone farther, how it felt splitting himself open on that cock, how his thighs burned and how he’d raked his nails down Lance’s chest and how Lance had looked at him like he was damn near close to godly. 

He wanted that again.

He wanted to do it right this time.

He wanted…

Lance was still grinding their hips together, almost subconsciously like he was just chasing the pleasure though his eyes were cracked open and through the haze he was staring at Keith like he was awestruck.

Just like he used to, whenever they got anywhere close to this point.

Keith usually stopped it right about then. Usually stopped it before he started to drag precum across Lance’s pelvis. Usually stopped it before Lance started mumbling about how beautiful he was (because the second it got to  _ that  _ point his guilt would eat him up inside. He  _ needed _ to stop it before it got to that point.)

But now?

He reached up with both hands and held his cheeks. 

Lance’s lips were bitten and a little puffy and they looked perfect. 

“You’re perfect.” Keith mumbled, just in case he needed to know. Then he leaned in and locked their lips together, quickly moving into Lance’s mouth to taste his tongue, to feel him struggle to keep up. The vibrations of every swallowed noise as he pushed in deeper, one hand slipping behind his neck and guiding him to give him more room. 

Lance’s hand moved from his hip to his ass and squeezed, having nothing else he could do under Keith’s assault. Not that either of them were complaining. Keith moaned into the kiss and his tail swayed in overstimulated excitement and—

Wait.

Wait…

He pulled away slowly, dragging his tongue against Lance’s for as long as he could as he assessed the situation. 

He was human. Mostly. He was in Lance’s bed. He was completely naked in Lance’s bed and Lance was mostly asleep and—

“Oh. Oh wow.”

Well, he  _ had been _ mostly asleep. Probably wasn’t anymore. 

“F-fuck. I’m sorry.”

No.

No don’t be sorry.

Keith watched the haze start to lift from Lance’s eyes, watched his cheeks start to flame and watched him try to retrieve his hands and detangle his legs. 

Keyword was try. 

Keith floundered for a second but reached out quickly to put a stop to that. He squeezed his thighs to keep Lance still and he grabbed his wrists to hold him. 

Lance looked down at Keith’s legs, where his length pressed against his as it popped out of the waistband of his pajama bottoms. His line of sight trailed up the dip in Keith’s waist to his arms, shoulders, chest. He paused, staring at Keith’s lips and Keith watched his throat bob as he swallowed around nothing. 

“Kiss me.” Keith offered. 

Lance’s eyes darted up at the words but settled back on his lips. He wanted to, clearly, but he didn’t budge. 

“Lance, please…” Keith tried again, rolling his hips and causing Lance to bite his lip to swallow back the sound. 

“Kiss me…?”

Lance eyes shut as Keith continued to move and he tilted his head up to pant above Keith’s head rather than in his face. 

“F-fuck…Keith are you… _ a-ahh _ …! ...Do you really w-want… this…?”

Keith leaned his face in close, lips almost feathering over Lance’s as he couldn’t move any further with Keith’s grip what it still was. 

“You…? More than anything…Please…”

Lance held his breath. 

Keith was sure what he was doing should have gotten a bigger rise out of him. The Lance who’d kissed the life into him in back hallways spouting specific words Keith couldn’t say back—Keith knew what made  _ that _ Lance go insane with want. And yet, when their heads smeared precum together, pink and over sensitive, Lance only barely winced. 

“…Say it…” He said finally. 

Keith blinked at him, his tail swaying slowly, his ears cocked, unsure. 

“I need you to say it…” Lance’s voice lowered and suddenly his hands yanked free of Keith’s hold and went to grab his hip and jaw. He stopped Keith’s movements dead, causing him to whimper as he was forced away from his own pleasure. The hand on his jaw held tightly, thumb pressed to cheek as if daring Keith to speak words he’d disapprove of, making sure Keith looked him in the eyes for this.

“If you want anything from me I need you to  _ fucking say it _ .” He said again. 

His voice seeped into Keith’s bones and went straight to his cock, making it bounce visibly in his periphery. 

Keith had heard Lance use that voice once before and it had been as a threat to the men who’d taken their mentor.

He wasn’t sure which had been hotter but being naked in his arms while he used it this time was definitely a plus. His tail moved faster.

“S-say what…?” Keith whimpered, excitement burning under his skin as he took in Lance’s narrowed eyes.

Lance growled and pushed Keith onto his back to straddle his waist, his hand still tightly gripping Keith’s jaw as the bottom of his palm pressed into his neck and pushed him down into the mattress. His other hand was now flat on Keith’s abdomen, still focused on keeping him from seeking any further pleasure by rutting against Lance.

“I  _ will _ get up and leave you here, Keith.”

“Oh?”

His tail flailed against the mattress in the little space it was trapped between his legs. He didn’t know why he was baiting Lance like this. He just knew he wanted to. He enjoyed it. Seeing this side of him.

He wanted to see all the sides of him. He wanted Lance in his entirety. 

He—

“Or is that it? You only want me for sex?” Lance dropped down suddenly, grinding against Keith’s naked cock in a way that made him gasp and mewl, trying to catch his breath.

“Lance…!”

“So, which is it? You have to tell me Keith. You have to use your words and fucking  _ tell me _ .”

His hand moved down to grip Keith’s neck, the other down between Keith’s legs, one finger rubbing his perineum slowly but deliberately, “What do you want me for? How do you want me? How do you  **_feel_ ** _ about me, Keith? _ ”

Keith panted through the pressure on his throat. 

_ “Admit it.” _

Keith thought he knew what he meant but. 

But…

“I want to… I want to… _ ahn—nn—nyaah—Lance _ …!” Lance pushed a dry finger against his entrance as he continued to grind against his cock, Keith was starting to see stars, but he was determined. He could just say it, but he didn’t want to just ignore all the times before, all the times he hadn’t. “…Do it right! I want to do it right! This time…”

Lance froze. 

He loosened his grip on his neck and retrieved his other hand to put down on one side of Keith’s head as he leaned in close. 

“This is the last time I’m going to say this to you… if you don’t do it right this time… okay?” His voice was softer. Hushed. A little scared.

Keith nodded and when Lance pressed his cheek to his he could feel his heart pounding in his chest so hard Lance must have been able to hear it. 

“Every time I… I hoped maybe… Shit, it broke my heart  _ every time, _ Keith.”

“I know. I  _ know _ …!”

“I just…” Lance’s forehead hit the mattress and he released a long deep breath, “I loved you—I  _ love _ you so fucking much.”

Keith took a breath. His body melted. He felt transcendent. It’s been two years since Lance had said that to him. Two long miserable years. Knowing he was the shit that took it for granted and then couldn’t even admit it to himself, that he’d been the one to push Lance away. 

“I love you too.” Keith purred, the rumble in his throat not at all a figure of speech as he nuzzled into Lance’s cheek, “I always have. I’m so sorry.”

Lance raised his head, eyes reflecting the light through the thin mist threatening to build. 

Keith probably wasn’t much better. His chest just  _ ached _ . 

“Kiss me now? Please?” He implored, tilting his face up to try and catch Lance’s lips.

Lance had barely registered the words before he responded, “Fuck yes,” and dove in to capture Keith’s mouth.

\---

When sunlight filtered into the room and Keith laid satiated and blissed out on his stomach on Lance’s chest Pidge’s ringtone played on Lance’s phone and they both groaned lazily.

Lance snapped his fingers and the phone dropped onto the bed beside them, Pidge’s contact image behind the lit speakerphone option.

“Okay so I have good news and bad news, I think I figured out how to reverse it, but it’s really tentative alright? Basically, this line here about ‘reaching serenity’ is like—Keith needs to figure out his stupid mixed feelings about junk and he should come back to himself.”

Lance chuckled and kissed the top of Keith’s head. Keith grumbled and buried his face in his chest. 

“The bad news is that Keith decided to make this so super complicated that even if he’s at peace with himself about one thing there’s like 80 different things that could be twisting around in that crazy little head of his, so he won’t actually  _ completely _ ‘reach serenity’ until you know—well, you know Keith.”

Keith raised his head to look at the phone with a raised brow. 

“But back on the good news spectrum! Presumably, if Keith ever  _ does _ manage to chill out enough and get back to his whole ass regular self, it’s basically time for his familiar to show up so like…so like, double the win,  _ when  _ it happens. Anyway.”

Lance grinned and ran a hand over the top of Keith’s head, his fingers grazing the furry triangular ears still sitting there. 

“So, if say… he comes to accept a few things but not all of them, he’d just be like… perpetually part cat?”

Pidge snorted, “Oh man, could you imagine?”

Keith’s tail swayed in agitation. 

“Yeah. Yeah, pretty easily actually.”

“How is our new pet anyway? You guys didn’t kill each other last night? Did he try to claw your eyes out?”

Lance chuckled, and his eyes darted to his shoulder where he could probably still feel the sting of Keith’s nails all along his back.

“Nah, we’re cool. Right Keith?”

Keith rolled his eyes and sat up enough to stretch, his ass propped in the air as his tail swayed lazily now. Lance sat up with him to run a hand down his spine. Keith purred loudly, and it sounded like Pidge spit some manner of drink.

“Is that Keith?! No—no way, it’s Blue, right?”

Lance shrugged, “It’s Keith. What can I say Pidgelet, I’m good with cats, ain’t that right  _ kitten _ ?”

Keith’s eyes narrowed, and his purring grew quieter but didn’t stop altogether. 

Pidge made choking noises, “Yo dude, are you sure you guys are okay? I was going to drop by after lunch, should I come over sooner?” 

“Whatever you gotta do Pidge,” Lance looked Keith right in the eye as his fingers trailed down to the root of his tail, wrapped around the base and tugged. 

Keith’s eyes widened, and he clamped his mouth shut to try and stifle the noise but his mewl was so loud even trapped in his throat Pidge went silent before announcing she’d be over in ten minutes and hanging up. 

Keith slumped against Lance, cock throbbing against his thigh once again thanks to the ridiculous ‘On Switch’ Lance had located in tugging on his tail. 

“Why. Why would you do that while she was  _ on the phone _ ?”

“Wanted to see what you’d do.” Lance chuckled, pulling Keith up to nuzzle his face. “And let’s be real here, I love the ears and the tail, and I intend to take full advantage of them while they’re here, no shame. Also like. They’ll totally work for tonight as a super authentic catboy costume, you know?” He mumbled the last bit as an afterthought, his thumb rubbing small circles into the base of Keith’s tail.

Keith panted against his neck as he hung his head, mumbling about how the love of his life  _ would _ be like this. The universe clearly picked a goddamn  _ cat  _ for a reason.

“You know, other than the fact that you’ve always basically been one, just less honest.” Lance said boldly, then he flipped them over so Keith was on his back beneath him once again. His black hair fanned out across the pillows, body littered with hand and mouth shaped bruises and bites. Lance took a moment to take in the image, enjoying his view completely just as he leaned down to whisper in one cocked hyper sensitive fluffy ear: 

_ “So, what do you think, Kitten? What do you  _ **_want_ ** _ to do in the next ten minutes?” _

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there's actually a HUGE story behind this one in case that wasn't clear that I would LOVE to dive into some time but uhhh already... so many... fics???  
> Maybe later.  
> Sometimes you just want Keith to be a catboy, okay?  
> Anyway! Hope you liked it, feel free to come yell at me on tumblr @Blood-Red-Lion


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